Mike
needs a 2” water tap for the new car wash he is building by his current
business (Fast Max).He said it will
have a water recycling system that will have a 4500 gallon tank.He is wants to pay a reasonable tap fee.Ordinance 12-20-90-2 says that for a
connection over ¾”, the tap fee is 50-cents per square foot of the structure.Mike said it will be 126’ x 30’, which is
3,780 square feet.That total fee would
be $1,890.Mike said there are some
months he won’t use any water at all.Lowell told him the minimum charge is about $30 per month.Mike said he would like a break on the tap
fee.Lowell told Mike to make sure his
contractors install a device to prevent backflow.Lowell said board will discuss it and get
back to Mike.

Mike and
Zeke left and the board discussed the request.If they make an exception for one, they would be setting a bad
precedent.Bev made a motion to not give
Mike a break on the tap fee, but to leave it at 50-cents per square foot, per
the ordinance.Laura second.All yea.

Bev made
a motion to approve the October 2005, meeting minutes.Laura second. All yea.

Laura
made a motion to accept the October 2005 Financial Statement.Bev second. All yea.

The board
reviewed an e-mail from Richard Gould.Aaron will have Michelle send a letter to Mr. Gould with a copy of the
past-due history.Michelle asked Lowell
about charging Gould for the new lid on the meter that had to be replaced due
to Mr. Gould driving heaving equipment over the truck and breaking it.Lowell said he didn’t know how much just the
lid portion would be, but to call Midwest Pipe and find out.He needs to be charged for the replacement
lid.

Michelle
asked the Board about the Water Service Agreement with Walnut Creek Sewer
District (WCSD).She said in Section L,
it says that “BOPA agrees to require the customer to pay $62.50, as of May 1999
or the current cost thereafter for new water meters and replacement water meters
where a replacement water meter is required to be installed because of customer
neglect, abuse or freeze up,” etc.Michelle asked if we have ever charged this fee.Lowell said this was supposed to cover when
meter freezes up and busts (they must not have had heat tape on it).Michelle says she’s never seen that
situation, so she’s wondering if we’re charging people the way we should.Lowell said we are.

Michelle
asked about Section M of the agreement – regarding charges for voluntary
shut-offs.Michelle said we’ve never
charged this fee, and she gave several examples of when we should have.No specific response was given by the board.

Michelle
asked about Section I of the agreement – regarding providing WCSD with the
tools necessary to do their work.She
asked if we needed to get more tools, for instance Klouse has a 2” meter, but
don’t have the tool to turn them on/off.Lowell said he has tried to shut it off, but couldn’t.

Michelle
asked if we were enforcing any “work hours” for turning disconnected services
back on.She didn’t like that Lowell has
to do it any time of the day.Lowell
said that when the WCSD takes over full responsibility, they will go by their
hours.

Michelle
said that Linda Crow paid her tap fee.

Michelle
asked if we had guidelines or requirements of how taps are to be
installed.Lowell said the WCSD inspects
installations of water and sewer taps per the water agreement.Aaron couldn’t find in the contract where
that was listed.Lowell said the
contract says one thing one place and something else in another place.

Michelle
asked when we were going to increase water tap fees.Lowell said he wasn’t aware of it.Aaron said the Finance Committee and
discussed increasing the water tap fee to a flat $1500.Lowell asked why.Aaron said it was to bring us up in alignment
with what other entities are charging in Fairfield County.Michelle called around and compiled a list of
tap fees from other entities.She shared
the list with the board.Lowell said
Baltimore charges so much because they install the tap themselves.Aaron said he was not aware of that and would
let Council know.Lowell also said that
if you leave it a flat $1,500, then any company can come in and be as big as 40
acres and only have to pay $1,500.Aaron
said he would let Council know so they can consider raising the rate for
commercial taps.Aaron pointed out that
WCSD sewer tap fee was $1,500, so they must be installing that tap.Lowell said they are not.Aaron asked why it was so high then.JoAnn said it was because the WCSD was
money-hungry.

Lowell
told Michelle that she or Council should come up with something for water meter
installation guidelines.Aaron suggested
she contact Pleasantville for some samples.Michelle said there should be regulations for placement of meters,
too.Lowell had to crawl in the mud to
replace a meter under a trailer.She
said it seems we should have a placement and access plan to give to customers;
and that since BOPA is in charge of all that, we should have some guidelines.Bev said that the current ordinance states
that the meter must be placed in a reasonable and convenient location; that
should cover it.

Michelle
said that Ordinance 12-20-90-2, Section 3, states that contractors installing
the tap must be approved by the BOPA and post a $250 bond prior to
installation.Lowell said we just need a
copy of the bond.

Michelle
said that the Meter Service Checklist is looking good (those needing
replacement).Hutchison, Lester &
Vera Seevers in the trailer court still need done.Michelle said she sent a letter about the
Seevers meter to Chris Whightsel, since he is the property owner.The ordinance from October 1, 1982 says it
falls on the property owner.Michelle
asked why he fixed Dixon’s meter, who is in the trailer court.He said he did it because Tammy wasn’t
charging enough.Lowell said to send a
letter to Vera Seevers about the meter.

Michelle
said he got a call from Hugh Farmer asking why he was still being billed since
the house has been empty.She explained
about the minimum charge.Hugh said he
will pay what’s due.Most of it was
already assessed to the property.Michelle asked how we change anything on the account since the property
has been sold.Lowell said when they
come in, tell them they owe from since they bought the property.

Michelle
said Larry Robinson’s property went up for Sheriff’s sale.Lowell said we should have turned in the bill
to them.They used to call the finance
company or real estate agent and tell them there was an outstanding bill.Michelle asked how do we track what’s for
sale?Lowell said it’s in the
paper.Michelle asked who’s
responsibility it was to track all this in the paper.

Michelle
shared a spreadsheet with the Board of how much water we purchased from
Baltimore each month versus what we billed for the last 12 months.It’s about 1.7 million gallons short.She wonders if it’s because of faulty meters
or a lot of leaks.

Michelle
said the check for Account # 218B came back from the bank today.She left a message at their house.This was for their September bill.They now owe for three months.She wondered what BOPA would like to do now –
normal procedures?Lowell said to try to
contact them.If it’s not paid by
shut-off date, we’ll turn her off.

Aaron
asked about reading meters every other month instead of monthly.That would save us some money.Lowell said we wouldn’t be able to catch
faulty meters quickly enough.

Aaron
shared a bill from WCSD for PC maintenance and software annual maintenance.It was for $711.94.Everyone agreed it was okay to pay.Lowell said we have to.

Lowell
said Baltimore water rates are going up the first of the year, so we’ll have to
take a look at increasing the rates again.

Lowell
asked Michelle what her hours were.She
said 9 am – 1 pm.Lowell said
“sometimes.”Michelle said she stops at
the post office first thing.Lowell
asked Michelle was Tammy at WCSD’s hours were.She said she wasn’t sure, but she’s always there when she needs
her.Lowell said they didn’t know what
Tammy’s hours were, either.JoAnn said
“Well, we’re gonna find out next meeting.”